Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (4020 mails)
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Re: [SLE] new v9.2 is out
- From: "Theo v. Werkhoven" <twe-suse.e@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 00:59:00 +0200
- Message-id: <20041021225900.GA22920@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Wed, 13 Oct 2004, by gorebofh@xxxxxxxxxxx:
[..]
> Why is an Xterm called that after a Terminal when a Terminal is where
> something ends.... What were they thinking calling it that. Isn't it
> properly called a console? Or what? What do you call a box that's only
> using a command line, like run level 3....That's not a Terminal is it? I
> have no idea what to call these things, because I've been told Terminal is
> where something ends, so it would be console, but... OK I've confused
> myself.... I think I'm going to run too the store and get a pack of smokes
> heh.
>
> So what is a Terminal, and what is a console? Someone help! ;)
A bit late, but an answer I haven't seen yet.
Terminal comes from the Latin Terminus, meaning 'boundery' or
'border', which is exactly what it is: a boundery between human-
and machine logic.
A terminal can be any place where {users} log in and work on a
time-sharing system.
"To console" means 'support', 'sustain'. Also a well chosen word for
its purpose, as a special terminal for the capo-di-capi I think.
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (13 Mar 01) [foldoc]:
console
1. The operator's station of a {mainframe}. In times past,
this was a privileged location that conveyed godlike powers to
anyone with fingers on its keys. Under {Unix} and other
modern {time-sharing} {operating system}s, such privileges are
guarded by passwords instead, and the console is just the
{tty} the system was booted from. Some of the mystique
remains, however, and it is traditional for {sysadmin}s to
post urgent messages to all users from the console (on Unix,
/dev/console).
2. On {microcomputer} {Unix} boxes, the main screen and
keyboard (as opposed to character-only terminals talking to a
{serial port}). Typically only the console can do real
graphics or run {X}. See also {CTY}.
Theo
--
Theo v. Werkhoven Registered Linux user# 99872 http://counter.li.org
ICBM 52 13 27N , 4 29 45E. + ICQ: 277217131
SUSE 9.1 + Jabber: gurp@xxxxxxxxxxx
Kernel 2.6.5 + MSN: twe-msn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
See headers for PGP/GPG info. +
[..]
> Why is an Xterm called that after a Terminal when a Terminal is where
> something ends.... What were they thinking calling it that. Isn't it
> properly called a console? Or what? What do you call a box that's only
> using a command line, like run level 3....That's not a Terminal is it? I
> have no idea what to call these things, because I've been told Terminal is
> where something ends, so it would be console, but... OK I've confused
> myself.... I think I'm going to run too the store and get a pack of smokes
> heh.
>
> So what is a Terminal, and what is a console? Someone help! ;)
A bit late, but an answer I haven't seen yet.
Terminal comes from the Latin Terminus, meaning 'boundery' or
'border', which is exactly what it is: a boundery between human-
and machine logic.
A terminal can be any place where {users} log in and work on a
time-sharing system.
"To console" means 'support', 'sustain'. Also a well chosen word for
its purpose, as a special terminal for the capo-di-capi I think.
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (13 Mar 01) [foldoc]:
console
1. The operator's station of a {mainframe}. In times past,
this was a privileged location that conveyed godlike powers to
anyone with fingers on its keys. Under {Unix} and other
modern {time-sharing} {operating system}s, such privileges are
guarded by passwords instead, and the console is just the
{tty} the system was booted from. Some of the mystique
remains, however, and it is traditional for {sysadmin}s to
post urgent messages to all users from the console (on Unix,
/dev/console).
2. On {microcomputer} {Unix} boxes, the main screen and
keyboard (as opposed to character-only terminals talking to a
{serial port}). Typically only the console can do real
graphics or run {X}. See also {CTY}.
Theo
--
Theo v. Werkhoven Registered Linux user# 99872 http://counter.li.org
ICBM 52 13 27N , 4 29 45E. + ICQ: 277217131
SUSE 9.1 + Jabber: gurp@xxxxxxxxxxx
Kernel 2.6.5 + MSN: twe-msn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
See headers for PGP/GPG info. +
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